


Zeroing In

by jeien



Series: The Bijou AU [1]
Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 02:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5188649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By the time the spring tournament ended, Riou knew more about Haruna Motoki and his life than he thought was ever possible, considering he’s never even met the guy. The cascade of facts and tidbits and praise was getting tiring. So when Roka ordered him to drop off a bag he left at home to the Bijou baseball field, Riou was less than thrilled. </p><p>[An AU where Haruna accepted Roka's recruitment and goes to Bijou instead of Musashino]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zeroing In

**Author's Note:**

> I'm surprised some people actually liked the HaruRiou ship from when I did that one challenge for Oofuri Rarepair week! They've pretty much become my darkhorse ship thanks to that one fic. But this one is a lot more lighthearted (and way less risque) than "in your anger, do not sin" so I hope you enjoy!

Haruna Motoki was all his brother could talk about. He was the new first year of Bijou Dai-Sayama’s baseball club—a pitching prodigy with a god-like fastball that could probably tear someone in half. By the time the spring tournament ended, Riou knew more about Haruna Motoki and his life than he thought was ever possible, considering he’s never even met the guy. Like his eighty-pitch limit. Or his Major League aspirations. Riou even knew about the very hush-hush knee injury he sustained during junior high. The cascade of facts and tidbits and praise was getting tiring. So when Roka ordered him to drop off a bag he left at home to the Bijou baseball field, Riou was less than thrilled.

He received Roka’s summons right as he got home. Bijou Dai-Sayama was twenty minutes away by bike so he had no time to change out of his junior high gakuran (unless he wanted to risk getting yelled at for taking too long). By the time Riou arrived, they were about to start their warm-up laps after a long stretch period.

“Hey, I got your stuff,” Riou called out in Portuguese when he saw his brother by the dugout. A line of heads turned to look at him. He tried not to focus on the gazes of the baseball team and made a bee-line for Roka.

“Speak Japanese properly,” Roka scolded, taking the bag from his hands. “You can speak it well enough, although your grades don’t show for it.”

“Fine, fine,” Riou replied, inwardly delighted. If there was anything he outshone his brother in, it was his fluency in Portuguese. So he really couldn’t help but add in one last, “You’re just jealous because you can’t understand me.”

“You brat—!”

“Eh, is that Riou? You really shot up!”

Roka clicked his tongue as Coach Takii approached them—Riou was thankful for the sudden interruption. He knew he might have been a little too bold with his brother and that he might be getting his ass handed to him later, but it was well worth it.

“It’s been a while, Takii-san,” he greeted in Japanese. “I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

“I try,” Takii said with a laugh. He looked over to the baseball players and shouted out, “Okay, boys, get to running! I’ll stay behind.”

As the players began to jog to the rhythm of their captain’s chant, Riou’s eyes locked with another player’s. The guy jolted a little before averting his gaze and running off to catch up with the rest of the group. _Well, that was weird_ , he thought. A shiver went down his spine as Takii, unaware of what had transpired, brought him back to reality.

“So you’re going to be graduating junior high this year, right? Have you decided which high school you’ll enroll in?”

Riou fought the urge to say _I was thinking of coming here actually_ since Roka was within earshot. He didn’t need to be publically shamed more than he already was—so instead, he answered with, “Tosei, probably. It’s a good Christian school and I have some senpais waiting for me there.”

“Tosei’s not a bad choice,” Takii said. They continued to chat until their head the team coming back from their laps.

“I should probably head back,” Riou said. “Homework and studying and all.”

“And here I was talking your head off! My bad,” Takii apologized. He gave Riou a pat on the back before meeting up with the team and shouting, “Good luck! Drop by more often!”

“Oi, Takii,” Roka interrupted. “He’s already stupid enough; he doesn’t need any more distractions.”

“Breaks are just as important, Assistant Coach,” Takii exclaimed. “Don’t listen to him, Riou! Come by whenever you want!”

Riou could only laugh and wave back, turning on his heel to get his bike from the racks. _Why can’t Takii-san be my brother instead?_ he wondered as he rode off. He didn’t notice the pair of brown eyes that continued to watch him until he disappeared into the horizon.

He went back to Bijou Dai-Sayama that weekend to help Roka make lunch for the team. Some of the mothers from the booster club were already in the clubhouse, cutting up some vegetables for a hotpot. Of course, they just had to coo at him as soon as they saw him. Roka calmed the waters— _He’s not as cute as he looks; let’s get this all set up before they do their cool-downs please_ —and they were soon bustling around in the kitchen to prepare everything. The shouts and instructions from Takii faintly cut through all the metallic clatter, boiling, and sizzling noises inside. It almost made Riou want to go back to his own junior high team and run some drills.

By the time the first half of practice was done, six large containers of hotpot were ready to eat.

“Thanks for all your help,” Takii told the mothers. “It smells amazing. Please, come eat with us!”

The mothers declined, saying the boys would be very embarrassed to have them around. They did encourage “Riou-chan” to stay, though. For once, Roka—muttering something about Takii’s whining being infectious—had no protests. Takii seconded that opinion and immediately pushed Riou along to sit with the team.

“Okay, guys, this is Riou,” Takii introduced. “He’s Coach Roka’s little brother and he helped out with your food so be nice to him!”

“Hi, uh…” He was starting to get a little unnerved with the way the players stared at him. “Nice to meet everyone. I’ll be in your care for today.”

There was a beat of silence before the team burst out into laughter. His cheeks were starting to heat up—Did he say something weird? He didn’t really relax until he heard someone yell out, “No way! That can’t be Coach Roka’s brother!”

“Yeah, they look nothing alike!”

“This one’s probably an angel compared to him!”

Roka had still been in the parking lot, seeing the mothers off, so their laughter intensified further. Riou felt his shoulders sag with relief at the warm reception. Even if it’s just for lunch, at least they were nice. The members started to introduce themselves, going from third years to first years, even though Riou pretty much knew who everyone was thanks to his brother. _They’re all really cool guys_ , he thought. If it wasn’t for Kazuki and Junta waiting for him in Tosei, he would’ve fought tooth and nail to get into this school—even if it was just to be with this group of people.

“Hey, where’s Haruna?”

“Huh? Oh, he said he was stepping out for a bit.”

Again with Haruna. The name seemed to be following him everywhere. Then again, he should have expected it: this _was_ Haruna’s school.

“Ah, there he is,” Takii said, noticing someone come towards them. It was the same person he locked eyes with when he delivered Roka’s bag. “Haruna, over here! This is Coach Roka’s little brother, Riou. He’s joining us for lunch. Riou, this is Haruna Motoki.”

Haruna’s eyes widened. “Wait, brothers? Really?”

Their captain, a third year named Ninohara, laughed. “That’s what we said! They look nothing alike.”

“Yeah, you know,” Riou said. “Genes and stuff. Sometimes they work that way.”

Haruna broke into a small smile at the comment. “Don’t I know it. My sister and I are the same. Anyway, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Riou said. He bit back the _I know pretty much everything about you aside from maybe your dick size_ that threatened to spill out of his mouth and shook Haruna’s hand instead. He looked a little different from the image Riou conjured up: a lot leaner and a little more laid-back.

They all spent the lunch break talking about baseball, but the conversations mostly revolved around Riou. They asked him about things like school and where he was planning to go to for high school, what his interests were, and how life is like around Coach Roka. (He didn’t have the courage to tell them the daily struggle to stay out of his brother’s way.) Hell, they even asked him to speak a little Portuguese because the first time they heard him talk in that language, it blew their minds a little. Riou didn’t want to assume, but all the while it felt like Haruna’s gaze never really strayed from him—like he was getting Haruna’s full attention. It didn’t make him feel uncomfortable. Rather, he felt…

…Shy?

“Okay, boys, back to practice!”

Riou was about to leave when Roka came back from the parking lot and told him to just take a seat at the dugout: he didn’t feel like wasting gas just to drive him home and then back to the field. Takii was ecstatic to have Riou stick around for the rest of their practice, especially since _You might just pick some stuff up to take back to your own team!_ He observed them go through batting practice, fielding drills, and a mock game between mixed teams of starters and second stringers. This time it was his eyes on Haruna, who took the mound straight away. _He usually starts as a right fielder though_ , he remembers—his self-imposed eighty-pitch restriction forced them to play him after the fourth inning. Riou supposed that since this was a mock game, it would be for a shorter duration but—

A pitch glided through his vision and snapped him out of his thoughts.

 _Was that Haruna’s fastball?_ Riou leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees as he focused his gaze further onto the diamond. The catcher, second year Kurata, tossed the ball back to Haruna. Kurata gave no signs: Haruna started his pitching motion and threw another heater. Riou’s eyes were too slow to follow it all the way through so he waited for the next pitch. He didn’t even realize how hypnotizing that pitch was until they had to switch for the next half of the inning.

By the time practice was over and they all started going back to the clubhouse to change, Riou figured he would wait for Roka by the car. He started to walk out of the dugout and make his way to the field’s exit when Haruna pulled him aside and asked, “Are you coming back tomorrow?”

“Me? Probably not,” Riou answered. “Roka doesn’t like me hanging around.”

Haruna frowned. “Why not?”

“Guess I’m just a bother,” Riou said, shrugging his shoulders.

“But you’re not,” Haruna followed abruptly—and it caught Riou off guard. Haruna, realizing what he just blurted out, stammered and added, “I mean, I don’t think you’re a bother. You’re nice. And having someone new like you around makes the other guys wanna show off so you’d be impressed.”

 _Huh_. “Does it make you wanna show off, too?”

A rosy color swelled onto Haruna’s cheeks. Riou blushed too when his brain caught up to his mouth—you don’t just ask those kinds of questions to guys, after all.

Haruna looked away and quickly scratched the back of his head. “W-Well, yeah! Of course you’d wanna try and have someone think you’re cool!”

“Riou!” they heard Roka’s voice call out. “Hurry up! We’re going home!”

Riou waved a hand to his brother to let him know he was coming. He turned back to Haruna and cleared his throat. “For the record… I already think you’re pretty cool.”

He ran off before Haruna could say anything else. There was something about actually being around him that changed his mind about the player named Haruna Motoki. He was definitely a cool guy. As he ran towards the car, he didn’t see the star pitcher standing there, dumbstruck with his mouth agape and cheeks reddening further until Akimaru snapped him out of his daze.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I'll even write more shorts in this AU with these guys. I wanted to write how they got together in this one, but it would have been a little too long for my liking so maybe I'll save that for another fic.


End file.
